Grammy Awards postponed until March

The 2021 Grammy Awards has been postponed due to coronavirus concerns, say the organisers, reports BBC.

The ceremony, one of the music industry's biggest awards, was due to take place on 31 January.

The event is will now take place on 14 March, due to rising infection numbers in Los Angeles and the state of California.

Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa led the nominations for this years awards, which were announced in November.

"Nothing is more important than the health and safety of those in our music community and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly on producing the show," said a statement from the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys.

It is unclear whether comedian Trevor Noah, who was set to host the show, will still take part in this year's ceremony.

The organisation behind the awards had previously announced that this year's edition would be mostly virtual, according to the AFP news agency, although no further details had been released.

Many major awards ceremonies have had to move online since the pandemic reached the US last year.

The US state of California has been particularly hard hit by the spread of coronavirus, with ambulance workers in Los Angeles County being told not to transport patients with extremely low chances of survival to hospital.